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Comment by rogerbinns | Hacker News Reader

I watch out for people complaining about things, but don't treat it as a negative. It shows that at least they care enough to complain. The situation is far worse if they give up complaining, because they no longer care. Complaining also implies there are improvements that could be made, so again a benefit.

This attitude surprised someone the other day complaining about their code. I was delighted, since it meant they cared!

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Careful, sometimes people don't complain because they are afraid of the retaliatory consequences if they do. Seems like a very dangerous assumption to make. I've talked to many people who just feel like they can't speak up in certain situations.

A sizable group but I prefer either to not work with them or to make it clear to them that they need to draw attention to problems.

These are the same sort of people who don't speak up when they think you're about to make a disastrous decision. I tell my coworkers/partners/clients frequently that I, like anyone, have blind spots. If they think I'm missing something, please, PLEASE address it sooner rather than later.

Which is another good reason to prefer that people are complaining.

Chilling, from a chilling effect, is generally bad. It's better for people to speak their mind, and for folks to feel comfortable sharing their opinion.

I agree 100% it is good for people to speak their mind, but I'm just saying in some cases you really can't.

Frequently, complaining is important to getting things done at work. If I were in a situation where I was worried about retaliation for speaking up about a problem, the real problem isn't the issue at hand but that I need to find a new job.

In building a startup I've found that users who complain more tend to be more interested and engaged. People who aren't interested won't complain because they are not interested.

Of course we also have happy users who never complain, so by no means is it a perfect indicator. Just saying complaining is not necessarily a bad sign.

Depends, some are just reflex rantings. Colleagues complaining about how absurd a task is, offer them a script to do away with it, refusal. Family member complaining about not having enough time, offered to do task; refusal. The rant is not about the actual object.

Rands covers this pretty well in "The Update, The Vent, and The Disaster" [1], I think. Specifically, the difference between a "vent" and a "rant": "The Vent that wants no help is a Rant. The Ranter somehow believes that the endless restatement of their opinion is the solution. Perhaps they have no clue what a solution might be or how to find it or perhaps they’ve been stewing on the topic so long, they’ve lost all sight of logic."

[1]: http://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-update-the-vent-and-th...

Yes I believe it's a social escapism to get emotional support when facing something intractable for them.

In the Army, NCOs are taught unofficially that soldiers will complain in their normal state and that, as a leader, you need to worry when the soldiers stop complaining.

Complaining without suggesting better alternatives isn't very constructive.

Everyone is not on the hook for having to do so, or may not be able to do so based on what they know anyway. I will take someone who cares enough to complain any time, versus someone who doesn't complain because they can't come up with a better alternative.

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